Organizations, agencies, committees and individuals that wish to hold meetings, receptions or other functions at the 72nd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference are urged to contact the Wildlife Management Institute as soon as possible. The 72nd Conference will be held March 20-24, 2007, in Portland, Oregon.

A preliminary decision by a federal judge may derail U.S. Department of the Interior plans to begin oil and gas leasing later this month in a vast wetland complex around the largest lake on Alaska's North Slope, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

Joining the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI) this month, as Conservation Program Specialist, is Matthew C. Dunfee. Matt will work in the Institute's Washington, DC headquarters.

A decade ago, Michigan voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot initiative requiring the management of wildlife to be on the basis of sound science. Based on sound science and with go ahead from the state legislature and governor, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources authorized a mourning dove hunting season in 2004, making it the forty-first state to have instituted a dove season. After a single season, in which fewer than 30,000 doves were taken from a fall population of more than 4 million, anti-hunting factions rallied to ban mourning dove hunting.

Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow (CLfT)?a program to inform nonhunting university students with majors in wildlife and other natural resources about the role and values of recreational hunting?will continue to be underwritten in part by the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation. At the conclusion of its second and final pilot-year workshops this fall at the McGraw Wildlife Foundation in Dundee, Illinois, the program will look to establish satellite facilities and workshops in other parts of the country, reports the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI).

The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) recently announced a new initiative aimed at bolstering duck production in the Prairie Pothole Region. The Duck Nesting Habitat Initiative (CP-37) has a target of 100,000 acres, including 40,000 acres slated for each of the Dakotas, 8,000 acres each in Montana and Minnesota and 4,000 acres in Iowa. CP-37, an adjunct of the Farm Bill's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), is projected to produce an additional 60,000 ducks annually, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

Because of rising oil prices, development of oil shale on public lands in the West is coming closer to reality. The U.S. Department of the Interior has issued an "advance notice of proposed rulemaking" concerning the establishment of a commercial oil shale leasing program, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

The aquatic nuisance species (ANS) issue is a complex and costly ecological, business, policy, legislative and political issue. It also is a nightmare in terms of law enforcement and communications. To address the issue and identify means of coordinating effective responses to invasive nuisance aquatic species, a one-day workshop will be held in March 2007 in conjunction with the 72nd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, in Portland, Oregon.

The Wildlife Management Institute invites companies, agencies and organizations that are interested in exhibiting at the upcoming 72nd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference to contact Jennifer Rahm to request an exhibitor's registration packet.

A nationwide survey conducted by Responsive Management of Harrisonburg, Virginia, found that support for hunting and fishing has remained strong over the past decade, with approximately every 3 of 4 Americans approving of legal hunting and more than 9 of 10 approving of recreational fishing, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

Based on a telephone survey of 813 Americans conducted from August 31 to September 9, 2006, the results reflect the opinions of randomly selected U.S. adult residents. The sampling error is 3.44 percentage points.